1831 · London
by (FORE-EDGE PAINTINGS). BUFFON, GEORGES-LOUIS LECLERC, COMTE DE (and others)
London: Thomas Tegg; J. Cumming, Dublin; and R. Griffin and Co., Glasgow, 1831. 170 x 100 mm. (6 3/4 x 4"). Four volumes. John Wright.
Contemporary black morocco, covers with an elaborate frame in gilt and blind, raised bands, spine compartments gilt with foliate volutes, turn-ins with a narrow gilt roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (rear hinge of fourth volume very neatly repaired). The first volume WITH AN EXCELLENT FORE-EDGE PAINTING DEPICTING ROTTERDAM FROM THE WATER. All volumes with numerous wood-engravings in the text. Corners and spine somewhat worn, joints a little rubbed, hinges of first volume open (but nothing loose); pastedowns with shadow of bookplate removal, but internally fresh, clean, and bright, with only trivial defects.
This set of an English adaptation of one of the most widely read works of the Enlightenment features a pleasing fore-edge painting full of charming detail. With his enormously influential "Histoire Naturelle," Buffon (1707-88) became the first person to present the natural world as one unified whole, entirely explicable in scientific terms, and in a popular form. Modern evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr called Buffon "the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century" and declared that the "Natural History" was read by "every educated person in Europe." Our editor, John Wright, has augmented Buffon's work with the works of other naturalists, including Culver, Lacepede, and "a British botanist of acknowledged note," among others. The text is supplemented by numerous wood engravings, with perhaps livelier and more attractive depictions than might be expected from a small format abridged edition like this one. The main attraction here, the fore-edge painting, has been done with not inconsiderable skill and charm. In it, two vessels cruise the glassy waters of Rotterdam, the city's iconic canal houses and the gothic church of St. Lawrence rising in the background. The scene mixes tranquility and commerce in a tableau rendered with a great deal of care and delicacy in its minute details.. (Inventory #: ST20481-04)
Contemporary black morocco, covers with an elaborate frame in gilt and blind, raised bands, spine compartments gilt with foliate volutes, turn-ins with a narrow gilt roll, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt (rear hinge of fourth volume very neatly repaired). The first volume WITH AN EXCELLENT FORE-EDGE PAINTING DEPICTING ROTTERDAM FROM THE WATER. All volumes with numerous wood-engravings in the text. Corners and spine somewhat worn, joints a little rubbed, hinges of first volume open (but nothing loose); pastedowns with shadow of bookplate removal, but internally fresh, clean, and bright, with only trivial defects.
This set of an English adaptation of one of the most widely read works of the Enlightenment features a pleasing fore-edge painting full of charming detail. With his enormously influential "Histoire Naturelle," Buffon (1707-88) became the first person to present the natural world as one unified whole, entirely explicable in scientific terms, and in a popular form. Modern evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr called Buffon "the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century" and declared that the "Natural History" was read by "every educated person in Europe." Our editor, John Wright, has augmented Buffon's work with the works of other naturalists, including Culver, Lacepede, and "a British botanist of acknowledged note," among others. The text is supplemented by numerous wood engravings, with perhaps livelier and more attractive depictions than might be expected from a small format abridged edition like this one. The main attraction here, the fore-edge painting, has been done with not inconsiderable skill and charm. In it, two vessels cruise the glassy waters of Rotterdam, the city's iconic canal houses and the gothic church of St. Lawrence rising in the background. The scene mixes tranquility and commerce in a tableau rendered with a great deal of care and delicacy in its minute details.. (Inventory #: ST20481-04)
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